Single Review: Foster The People – ‘Coming Of Age’
2 min read
Foster The People are the antithesis of The National. Where The National sounds morbidly depressed not matter what they’re singing about, Foster The People have a way of tricking the listener into thinking the music is happy when the lyrical content is far sinister. Just take their breakthrough and biggest hit to date, Pumped Up Kicks, with an upbeat and bouncy beat that put a smile on your face until you realized just exactly what that pop-rock chorus really said.
After the hugely popular Grammy nominated Torches in 2011, Foster The People took a step back and faded from the airwaves. Although the aforementioned Pumped Up Kicks and the equally successful Call It What You Want still stir up mass sing-alongs, it has been a solid three years since we’ve seen anything from the Los Angeles band that truly grabs us. That’s where Coming Of Age steps in.
Marked by their signature contradictory cheerful music/dark lyrics formula, it’s a song made for the 20-somethings who feel their days of exuberant youth are falling away. With lines like “And even when I’m wrong I tend to think I’m right” and “Well I’m bored at the thing and too tired to rage” Foster The People have captured the jaded and discouraged attitude that characterizes the fear of, well, coming of age. If this lead single off their forthcoming record Supermodel is a sign of things to come, we’re going to have a tremendous record on our hands
